


In Plain Sight

by Parchment_and_a_Song



Category: Fate: The Winx Saga (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Lore and Legend, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Parchment_and_a_Song/pseuds/Parchment_and_a_Song
Summary: Tales of long-lost possessions, rulers of armies that rise and fall at the wave of a hand, and history long forgotten. What do the fairies at Alfea get into when they discover these secrets? What could Rosalind be planning? Why does she want Bloom and what do her professors have to do with it?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	In Plain Sight

Saul closed his eyes as the screams echoed through the cave. His blood burned. _‘Rosalind will pay for this.’_ He thought.

Farah let out another scream as Rosalind sent another wave of torture.

Eyes glowing, she asked Saul again, “It’s a simple question, Saul. **_Where is the amulet?_** ” her expression was murderous and her eyes practically deranged. “The more you wait, the more your precious Farah suffers the price.”

Farah struggled to breathe, let alone stay conscious, but she managed to get out to him, “Saul,” she panted from the pain coursing through her body, “Don-Don’t tell her. It’s okay.”

Saul couldn’t bear to see her like this, but they had known all those years ago when they hid it that, if it came down to it, they had to protect Solaria, the students and Alfea, even if it meant that they couldn’t save the other. He was struggling to uphold that promise now.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bloom and the Winx girls rushed through the dark, cold tunnels, following the path that Terra was sensing. The large, hollow formations they were running through were like that of a giant creature’s, or as if someone had scooped out holes through the underground city and built a web all on their own. The space of the tunnels felt muggy, but the dirt formation around them was dry. There was an eeriness to it, as if the sturdy foundation above was alive, as if it could decide to crumble and rebuild at any moment. Bloom tried to push that away to the back of her mind while they looked to Terra who had a grave and contemplating look on her face as she pointed in the directions they should go.

The closer they got, the louder the screams were. It both made them flinch and move faster, hurrying to help their teachers, to stop Rosalind.

They took one last turn before they saw a light coming from one of the ends of the tunnel, a green hue emanating from the distance. The screams were clearer now, and ever more painful to hear. The voice sounded like Headmistress Dowling’s.

Bloom turned the corner first and stopped in her tracks at what laid in her path. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, eyes glued to the terrifying and confusing scene in front of her. Rosalind had Farah wrapped in some magical indent in one of the stone walls, a hollow that looked as if it were meant to hold someone captive, and it looked as though she were using the markings that led into the hollow to torture her. The marks glowed brightly, a great contrast to the intense pain they were causing. Headmaster Silva was standing in the corner, seemingly stuck in his position as there were vines all around him, but, upon closer inspection, it seemed as though he were able to move.  
She looked up quickly at the room all around her, the glow of stones catching her eye momentarily. Some glowed a lighter orange and yellow, while others were dark as molten lava. They lined the interiors of the wall, creating vertical patterns against the corners of the room, and stuck out from the center of the ceiling of the strange fortress.  
She heard Dowling scream again right before Rosalind asked him a question, “It’s a simple question, Saul. **_Where is the amulet?_** ” She heard the woman say, though it was faint as it traveled the distance between them. Bloom was yards and yards away from them, at the entrance of the large formation. She was lucky that Rosalind hadn’t noticed her yet.  
_‘If he could stop this, why wasn’t he?’_ Bloom thought before she voiced the opinion, screaming at the top of her lungs so that he could hear her. She heard Dowling scream once more.

“STOP!! STOP IT, PLEASE! PROFESSOR SILVA, JUST GIVE IT TO HER!! WHY WON’T YOU GIVE IT TO HER?!?” Bloom screamed at the head Specialist from across the cave. She stood there at the entrance, watching her Headmistress who was strung up in some sick torture ritual, and Professor Silva was just standing there at the edge of the cave with his head tilted to the side as if in pain, unmoving.

He spoke through gritted teeth, the pain his Farah was facing felt almost too much to bear, “Bloom, there’s too much you don’t understand. This is what Dowling wants,” he said, hating the truth in his words.

“ _THIS is what she wants?!?!_ How could you say that?!?!?” Bloom shouted in disbelief, desperate to save her teacher.

“Bloom,” Rosalind interrupted the girl’s misguided tirade, “Have you heard of the Last Cinder’s Flame?"

Rosalind paused, thinking of what might be more familiar to the girl, "Or as some call it now, the Lost Amulet of Domino?”

She saw a flash of recognition in the girl’s eyes and continued with a devilish grin.

“The Lost Amulet of Domino was thought to have been gone for years, _decades_ ,” she punctuated her words, “and the only trail to find it would be to find a Dragon’s Flame. _The_ Dragon’s Flame.” 

Seeing the girl's expression drop as the pieces started fitting together, Rosalind continued.

“You see, dear Bloom,” her words were sickeningly sweet as they fell off her tongue, “the power of the Cinder’s Flame is unmatched. IT is the one that can create all of those Burned Ones, and _it_ has the power to destroy them. Whoever is able to find it, let alone _wield_ it, is said to be the most powerful leader in the millennia. They will be able to raise and destroy entire _armies_ at their will.”

Bloom’s stomach turned as she realized just why Rosalind had chosen to save her those sixteen years ago, why she had led her to Aster Dell through Beatrix, and why she, eventually, got Bloom to help her escape her stasis. She wanted the Dragon’s Flame. She needed Bloom.

Her heart felt as though it stopped when she realized she had walked right into her trap, the trap that Headmistress Dowling and the professors had warned her about. 

_She wasn’t supposed to be here._

Rosalind had gotten exactly what she wanted.

Now, she would use her to get to the Cinder’s Flame.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

// Several weeks Earlier //

It was a bright day at Alfea with the sun shining through the painted glass and the high windows, the beams shining down to the students and the staff enjoying their first meal of the day in the dining hall. The hall was abuzz with conversation from teachers and students alike, everyone moving to sit with their groups and discuss the current events in their lives.

Ben walked through one of the entrances and towards the tables of fruits, vegetables, sweets, and more on platters for the hungry souls that morning. Alas, the option that Ben was looking for brought some disappointment. But then, he shouldn’t have been that shocked.

The breakfast muffins were always awful.

‘Typical canteen food’ Ben thought as he mumbled unintelligibly to himself in his weariness, not that he’d ever say that to the Headmistress or Headmaster. He wasn’t a morning person, and, looking at the layout of food, he placed a couple of fruit on his plate. Finding that, with his favorite breakfast item truly missing from the space, he wasn’t as hungry as he had been when he had woken up. Heading to his seat at the staff table, he heard Saul and Farah speaking in hushed tones. 

“You know we can’t do that, Saul,” Farah murmured quietly to Saul, eyes moving to look at the tables of students in front of them as to not draw unwanted attention to their conversation.

“Farah, I know you think it’s safer that way, but what choice do we have?” Saul looked at her with a calm expression though his voice conveyed the seriousness of the situation even through his pleading. “You know that if-” Saul glanced from Farah’s face to the rest of the hall, which seemed to be completely oblivious to the intense discussion occurring at the very far end of the room, and whispered, “if _she_ were to ever find them, we would all be in _serious danger_.”

“I _know_ that,” Farah huffed quietly, “but moving it now would be too risky. It’s been perfectly fine for _years_ , and there is no reason it should not still be now.”

Ben furrowed his brow, wondering what exactly it was that had his friends so agitated all of the sudden. Sitting down in his chair, he was just about to ask when Farah spoke to him, smiling in greeting, “Good morning, Ben. Did you sleep well?”

Ben responded in kind, smiling back at his old friend, though with confusion still evident in his expression, “Yes, thank you, Farah.”

“Is everything alright?” he inquired gently, “What-“ he lowered his voice as it seemed that their previous conversation was not meant for other ears, “What is going on? Does it have anything to do with…” he cleared his throat, “lily cove?” He knew his choice of words would cause confusion to anyone else, but his friends would understand why he chose to reference a place from so long ago. To the outsider, he was simply asking about a body of water, surely to do with the Greenhouse and it’s supply of plants and medicines, but, to his friends, it meant a changing point in their lives.

Farah nodded her head ever so slightly, grim expression flitting past her face, “I’m afraid so.”

“Saul thinks it’s time for a change,” her eyes flickered to the man in question’s, “and I think that you shouldn’t fix something that could be _broken_ if changed.”

Ben sighed quietly, contemplating his next words, “Are you sure they _would_ be broken if they were changed? You have to agree that it could help. 21 years is a long time.”

Farah gave him a look before her eyes moved to the ceiling momentarily, raising her eyebrows in slight exasperation, clearly outnumbered, “Oh, not you too, Ben.”

Ben raised his palms up slightly above the table in a muted gesture of peace, “I’m just saying, Farah. We should consider all of our options. It might feel safe now, but you never know what could happen.”

She paused for a moment, looking at him, then sighed and placed the napkin in her hand on the table, conceding to their argument. “Fine,” she looked up at the two who were waiting for her next words, “We will see whether it would make a difference, but _then_ and only then will I consider it. We have enough to worry about, what with the school and the barrier,” she stated, referencing the recent appearances of Burned Ones for the first time in almost 16 years, and the way the sightings had been increasing outside the school.

They settled that they would meet and discuss the best course of action by the end of the week, and headed off to their respective classrooms, preparing for the outpour of students that would surely follow after they finished dining in the hall.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the roar of conversation and the waves of sitting, standing, and moving bodies, no one noticed the pair of eyes watching the staff table from a distance, eyes locked on like a hawk at every word, every formation of a syllable that was made by the three professors talking to each other during breakfast that morning. Nor, it seemed, did anyone notice the seemingly distracted figure leave suddenly, exiting the hall through the side doors and head to the east wing.


End file.
